Orlando Magic coach Jamahl Mosley has not been shy to discuss the path his team has found itself on. The team has not hidden from expectations in the last two years, just as they did not hide from their disappointment in the way their 2025 season ended.
"Pressure is a privilege," he has often said. To do great things is to invite the pressure to do it again or to do even more. Undoubtedly, the Magic have invited all of that pressure. They have welcomed it into their building with the addition of Desmond Bane.
They invited it further when they inked Paolo Banchero to a max contract, the second max contract on their books and a move that assures the team will spend at least some time flirting with the second apron.
That alone makes it clear what the team's goals are: The Magic's championship window is open. They have 3-4 years to win a title before their finances catch up to them. The Magic's clock is already ticking.
Banchero commits to Magic's future with a clock
Rookie extensions are usually pretty straightforward. There are very few All-Star-level rookies who do not get a max extension or default to returning to the team that drafted them. They would be leaving too much money on the table.
The general trend around the league is for elite players to re-sign for the most money they can get from their current teams and then agitate to leave. Stars still hold all the power.
And while the Magic got a five-year commitment from Banchero that keeps him under contract through the 2031 season, Banchero also gained a huge measure of control.
For the first time since Luka Doncic and Trae Young in 2021, Paolo Banchero got a player option in the fifth year of the deal. It is one of the few player options president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman has handed out -- the last one was a player option on the third year of Kentavious Caldwell-Pope's deal last summer.
Both Doncic and Young have that player option for the 2027 season. And a lot can change in five seasons.
That pressure led the Dallas Mavericks to trade Doncic to the Los Angeles Lakers rather than give him another max deal. That pressure may have pushed the Atlanta Hawks to go big this offseason. Even with those elite players there is hesitancy and sticker shock five years later.
To say the least then, that player option, as earned and deserved as it might be, is a ticking clock. The Magic saw enough in Banchero in three years to reward him like the star he is and will continue to be.
Now the tables turn, the Magic must prove they are the best place for Banchero to ply his trade.
This is not about fans' lingering concerns about Banchero bolting for a hypothetical Seattle expansion team. This is the business of the NBA. This is the natural life cycle for teams and for superstar players.
Orlando has eight years with Banchero to build a championship-level team. Three of those years are spent with two first-round exits to show for it.
With the moves the team made this offseason, the Magic made clear their intentions and have opened their first shot at a title window.
Magic pushed in to make the most of this window
Everything is part of the same piece.
The Orlando Magic liked their team and the natural way they were developing. But they also looked at their season, despite all the injuries, and saw they clearly did not have enough to compete with the top teams in the East.
Knowing that they were about to enter the luxury tax with all their new contracts triggering, including the Paolo Banchero extension, they pushed their chips in to build their title team.
The trade to acquire Desmond Bane was not merely just about adding a strong shooter and secondary playmaker. It was about solidifying the core the team believes can win the championship.
Orlando will be spending an estimated $155.0 million on the team's top four players in the 2026-27 season. That is more than the league's salary cap for the 2026 season and 93.7 percent of the league's projected 2027 salary cap.
Just on guaranteed contracts for the 2027 season, the Magic will be about $30 million below the first apron line. And that does not include likely contracts for Jonathan Isaac, Anthony Black and Tristan da Silva ($28.6 million).
To say the least, this is the kind of spending you would only see from a team competing for a title. It is only sustainable if the team is competing for a championship.
Orlando has structured its contracts to bring all these decisions to a head simultaneously. Bane's contract expires after the 2029 season. Suggs and Wagner's contracts expire in 2030, the same summer Banchero could exercise his player option.
That gives four seasons to prove that this core can win. That is the ticking clock the Magic are facing. They need to push themselves forward to winning at a higher level to justify all this spending. They need to win in this way to keep their stars happy and keep them from having a wandering eye.
The Magic are not hiding from those expectations either. They know the pressure they have invited. They have welcomed it into their building quite clearly.
This has been a summer to celebrate. The Magic have matched the pressure of this moment to make significant improvements to the roster. The excitement within their building is palpable.
As president of basketball operations Jeff Weltman said Monday though, everything looks good on paper. Now the team has to see how it looks in reality. And the Magic will have to adjust quickly if things do not work out as planned.
Orlando has secured its core for the long-term future. The team believes it is ready to win at a higher level.
With this last piece in place, the clock is ticking to deliver on this potential.